ParentSquare Expands Attendance Capabilities to Help Districts Reduce Chronic Absenteeism at Scale

A growing number of districts adopt ParentSquare Attendance Plus to move from reactive tracking to proactive, relationship-driven attendance intervention

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ParentSquare, the leading family engagement infrastructure for K–12 districts, today announced new capabilities designed to help districts reduce chronic absenteeism through consistent, empathetic family outreach: automated workflows and period attendance, plus proactive absence reporting.

Nearly 1 in 4 students nationwide are chronically absent. The consequences reach well beyond the classroom, affecting district funding, academic outcomes, and long-term student success. Yet many attendance teams still track data in spreadsheets, generate truancy letters through mail merge, and document interventions across disconnected systems.

A growing number of districts are turning to ParentSquare Attendance Plus to modernize attendance improvements within the same platform they already use to reach families. Because ParentSquare helps districts connect with virtually every family through their preferred language and communication channel, attendance outreach is more likely to be seen, understood, and acted upon. Districts using the solution are already seeing improvements in daily attendance while reducing the administrative burden on attendance teams.

"Since adopting ParentSquare Attendance Plus in August 2025, our attendance has gone from 92.7% to 94.9% districtwide, and every school has improved. Before, our attendance outreach went unanswered. Now, parents respond and show up to meetings prepared. That happened because families finally feel like their child is valued," said Dr. Anny Iacono, Director of Special Education and Student Services, Nuview Union School District.

To make that kind of outreach easier to deliver at scale, ParentSquare is introducing three new attendance capabilities.

Automated workflows help districts intervene sooner, support policy compliance, and reduce administrative burden. Districts can automatically trigger attendance letters and family outreach based on customizable absence thresholds, with every interaction documented in one place. Also on the way, districts will be able to use automated workflows to recognize and celebrate strong attendance, reinforcing positive habits and showing families their efforts are noticed.

Period attendance helps secondary schools identify attendance patterns earlier, making it easier to support students before issues become chronic.

Proactive absence reporting reduces calls, emails, and manual data entry by giving families a simple way to report absences directly in ParentSquare. Attendance clerks review submissions from a centralized dashboard, improving efficiency and record accuracy, while equipping staff with the notice they need to prepare students for missed instructional time.

"I've spent 15 years working to solve chronic absenteeism, and compliance letters alone don't move the needle. What works is consistent, caring outreach that treats families as partners," said Alex Meis, MPA, Vice President of Attendance Strategy at ParentSquare. "These new capabilities make that kind of outreach possible at scale, without adding to the workload of already stretched school staff."

These capabilities follow the launch of ParentSquare Intelligence earlier this year, which embeds AI and data intelligence across the ParentSquare platform. By connecting attendance data, family communication records, and intervention workflows in one platform, Attendance Plus helps districts implement consistent attendance strategies without adding another vendor or line item to the budget.

To learn more about Attendance Plus, visit parentsquare.com/platform/attendance-improvement.

About ParentSquare
ParentSquare is the leading family engagement infrastructure helping K-12 districts nationwide reach every family with an award-winning, all-in-one communication platform. Reaching over 22 million students across the country, ParentSquare helps districts consolidate disconnected tools and outdated communication systems with personalized messaging, websites, forms, payments, and more—in one easy-to-use platform. With powerful features for achieving 100% contactability, two-way translation into 190+ languages, and purpose-built AI enhancements, ParentSquare empowers districts to invite every family to be involved in their student's education, no matter their home language or the device they use.

Recognized for growth and innovation by Inc. 5000, GSV 150, and more, ParentSquare was founded in 2011 in Santa Barbara, California. Learn more at parentsquare.com.

SOURCE ParentSquare